The Medicus: A Medieval Doctor Advises a Patient — Herbs, Uroscopy and Ancient Medicine
Recommended materials
This is how it could look
Fascinating and educational medieval medical scene. The medicus: a scholarly-looking man in long robes, perhaps wearing a distinctive round cap (pileus), seated at a table in his consulting room. He is holding up a glass uroscopy flask — a round glass bottle of urine held up to the light — examining its colour and clarity to diagnose the patient's illness (the main diagnostic tool of medieval medicine). Sitting across from him: a patient — a pale, worried-looking ordinary person. The consulting room: shelves covered in glass bottles, ceramic pots, and jars filled with herbs, coloured tinctures, and powders. A large herbal book open on the table showing plant drawings. An astrology chart on the wall (medieval physicians also used astrology for diagnosis — signs of the zodiac associated with different body parts). Medical instruments visible: lancet (for bloodletting), cauterising iron, leeches in a jar, mortar and pestle. Perhaps a human skull on the shelf.
